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This is kind of a 'how do I make a WOTR playable army list without spending more money?' thread.


I'm trying to make an army list mostly from my SBG collection and well, it's still pretty much amounting to sweet eff all when it comes to infantry and points costs..

40 Warriors of Minas Tirith
20 Minas Tirith Archers
20 Numenorean Warriors
4 Gondor Rangers
6 Rangers of Arnor
9 Grey Company Rangers (armoured)
6 Citadel Guard
3 Fountain Guard
5 Knights of Minas Tirith
1 Knight Banner bearer
9 Warriors of the Dead
King of the Dead
Isildur foot
Elendil foot
Faramir (all options)
Denethor
Boromir (almost all options)
Aragorn (almost all options)
Halbarad
Cirion
Damrod
Madril
Fellowship etc

Now, this is a pretty good collection for LOTR, but appears to be frakking useless for WOTR.

Do single company elite units work? or do they fail miserably like I feel they will? For something like Citadel Guard or Grey Company, how many 'companies' should you have in the formation? I'm sitting here looking at 100+ dudes and my mind is boggling thinking, "how can that not be enough?"

I've tried building up an army and with a (very) liberal use of demoted heroes, I've managed to come up with a 1505 point army.

Minas Tirith warriors - 5 companies (captain, banner) - Cirion as captain, Boromir with flag as banner bearer
Minas Tirith Archers - 3 companies - 4 stand in Easterling archers
Numenorean warriors - 3 companies (captain) - Isildur's now a captain. 3 stand in easterling soldiers
The Grey Company - 3 companies - Using my rangers of gondor and rangers of the noth to fill out the ranks
Minas Tirith Knights - 3 companies (banner, captain) - Boromir will stay with these guys to fill up the ranks. Faramir on horseback model will stand in for the captain.

Boromir - Cavalry
Faramir - Keep him with the infantry
Aragorn - Grey Company
Gandalf the White

--- 1505

As for the theme.... It's the "Models in the same army that make a list without having to spend money" theme. I'm sure you're all aware of it.

However, it's inevitable that if I actually start enjoying the game, I'll be wanting to make a 'proper' army. However, I'm also Scottish and therefore a bit of a cheap *******. I'm looking at that Court of the Dead King formation. And, since there is plastic models out for it now, is making that a formation actually worthwhile?

What about the Denethors Guard / Citadel Guard formations? With using my fountain guard guys to bulk it out, it'd only take a few more blisters to make a 2 company unit. - is that too small to be any good?

So yeah, completely new to WOTR and any advice would be appreciated!

Compel wrote:20 Minas Tirith Archers
20 Numenorean Warriors
4 Gondor Rangers

These three all need four more models to be complete companies, and for Rangers I'd suggest at least eight more (at least three companies strong is a good place to start for each unit).

6 Rangers of Arnor
9 Grey Company Rangers (armoured)

See above, at least three companies seems to work best for things not ambushing that have bows.

Do single company elite units work?

No. Unless you have indomitable, when your final formation is down to only half-models (or 4 infantry / 1 Cavalry) it dies instantly. Along with attached heroes.

Minas Tirith warriors - 5 companies (captain, banner) - Cirion as captain, Boromir with flag as banner bearer

Solid unit, good block to stick two Epic Heroes in.

Minas Tirith Archers - 3 companies - 4 stand in Easterling archers

Decent size, rarely see archers taken anywhere smaller than two and more than three companies at my GW.

Numenorean warriors - 3 companies (captain) - Isildur's now a captain. 3 stand in easterling soldiers

3 will do unless facing a really killy unit or combination.

The Grey Company - 3 companies - Using my rangers of gondor and rangers of the noth to fill out the ranks

Cannot speak on it.

Minas Tirith Knights - 3 companies (banner, captain) - Boromir will stay with these guys to fill up the ranks. Faramir on horseback model will stand in for the captain.

With a Captain and Banner, Boromir's going to be in the second company of these guys due to rules that mean you cannot have more Epic Heroes than you have "Common" warriors in a Company (Captains and Banners not counting as Common). Can hit hard, but be careful.

However, it's inevitable that if I actually start enjoying the game, I'll be wanting to make a 'proper' army. However, I'm also Scottish and therefore a bit of a cheap *******. I'm looking at that Court of the Dead King formation. And, since there is plastic models out for it now, is making that a formation actually worthwhile?

Considering if you wanted, you could move the unit 72" through interposing terrain & units and still charge someone (at the cost of both might), yeah. They're at a disadvantage being only D5, so they work best hitting something in the Flank / Rear. Then though, they wreck - usually you'll need 4's to wound and can easily realign someone's entire battle line.

The only advice I can give.

Minsc has given good advice. Minas Tirith Warriors are some very solid troops (D7 to the front) and I usually see at least two formations of 6 companies each on the table.

Your Knights are too small. 3 companies is surprisingly easy to wreck with shooting. Get another box.

Citadel Guard are good, Denethor's, not so much... you'd be surprised at how often you can fail a courage test on three dice. I'd look at the possibility of filling in some of the company with regular Minas Tirith Warriors, instead of buying more blisters of pricey metal models. It depends on how your gaming partners feel about proxies.

Army of the Dead/CotDK are very useful, just for their movement. Ignore terrain and other formations? Yes, please! Spirit Grasp means they are great against low courage units, too. They are definitely worth having 3 or 4 companies- but surprisingly, we don't use them that often, probably because of the points price.

Grey Co. +Aragorn is very good if used correctly. I am thinking about getting some myself, with Halbarad the standard bearer.

Alrighty, so after some thought and hmming and hahhing, I've ordered today another 24 minas tirith warriors, a box of 6 knights and the 20 army of the dead.

Haven't worked out the points yet, although I've been told that banners are extremely disappointing for their points costs - 2 banners being equivalent to 3 companies, generally speaking.

So, overall I'm thinking dropping Boromir, Gandalf, adding in the army of the dead and the new purchases and get rid of the banner(s). That'll seem to give me a pretty good army and for far less money than I expected.

Banners are good. Banners let your re-roll your charge distance, and your panic test, which means when you roll a '1' you don't need to immediately burn a might point. Might is valuable. Conserve it.

Keep Gandalf, too, as an army with no magic is an army that cannot bring back D3 casualties per turn (dratted Blessing of the Valar- truly a valuable spell). Also, about the time Aragorn has used his last might point, Gandalf can use his Counselor ability and if you're lucky, give them all back.

I've spent a while trying to make a 'stepped' army list.

5 Companies WOMT, Captain
3 Companies WOMT
3 Companies Numenorean Warriors
2 Companies Archers of MT
2 companies Archers of MT
3 companies Rangers of Ithilien
6 Companies Knights of Minas Tirith
Gandalf The Grey

980 points. Not sure what to do with the last 20 points to have them under 1000. I had given the knights shields, but that puts it up to 1010. I'm worried about a lack of heroes, but, it's only 1000 points.


Give komts shields.
Faramir
2 more captains

- that brings me up to 1200. I'd likely have one captain with an archer formation, 1 with the 3 warriors company, Faramir in the Knights unit and Gandalf in the Numenorean warriors unit.

------

Make Rangers of Ithilien into Grey Company
Aragorn
Knight Banner

1500 points

============

This has used up all my infantry, however what I do have 'spare' is a box of 20 Army of the dead (when they finally arrive) and the old army of the dead box with the dead king.